Kenneth Lerer
{{Short description|American businessman}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Kenneth Lerer
| image =
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| birth_date =
| birth_place = United States
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| occupation = Businessman, media executive
| known_for = Venture capital, HuffPost co-founder
| alma_mater =
| spouse = Katherine Sailer
| children = 2
}}
Kenneth Lerer is an American businessman and a media executive. He was the chairman and co-founder of HuffPost, an American news website acquired by AOL in 2011.{{cite web |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/07/aol-huffington-post_n_819375.html |title=AOL Agrees To Acquire The Huffington Post |work=HuffPost |date=February 7, 2011 }} He is also a managing director of Lerer Hippeau, and chairman of Betaworks and BuzzFeed.
Career
Lerer is a past executive vice president of AOL Time Warner{{cite web |first=Lloyd |last=Grove |url=http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/02/14/kenneth-lerer-the-stealth-partner-in-huffington-post-aol-sale.html |title=Arianna Huffington's Quiet Partner |work=The Daily Beast |date=February 13, 2011 }} and was a founding partner of corporate communications firm Robinson, Lerer, and Montgomery which is based in New York.{{cite news |first=Stuart |last=Elliott |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/03/01/business/the-media-business-advertising-addenda-robinson-lerer-to-be-taken-over.html |title=The Media Business: Advertising—Addenda; Robinson Lerer To Be Taken Over |newspaper=The New York Times |date=March 1, 2000 }} In January 2010, Lerer and his son began a seed stage venture capital fund, Lerer Hippeau Ventures.{{Cite web|url=http://www.inc.com/christine-lagorio/state-of-new-york-city-startup-ecosystem.html|title=Why Today's New York Tech Scene Looks Nothing Like You'd Expect|date=2016-01-22|website=Inc.com|access-date=2016-04-08}}
Lerer has taught at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, the University of Pennsylvania, and New York University where he lectured on the media and American corporations. He was Chairman of the Public Theater in New York for 10 years, and is now its Chairman Emeritus.{{cite news |first=Jesse |last=McKinley |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9906E7DD133EF937A25755C0A9639C8B63 |title=The Public Nominates Its New Chairman |newspaper=The New York Times |date=June 14, 2005 }}
In June 2019, he announced he would step down as chairman of BuzzFeed after ten years at the company.{{cite web|url=https://www.axios.com/newsletters/axios-media-trends-676c14ac-7f38-470e-a60b-ea3f87dfe6cc.html|date=June 25, 2019|author=Fischer, Sara|title=Axios Media Trends|publisher=Axios}}
Personal life
Lerer is married to interior designer Katherine Sailer.{{cite news |first=Lauren |last=Indvik |url=http://mashable.com/2013/09/24/thrillist-scaling-smarter/#w_UuJOhBZmq9 |title=Thrillist: From a Simple Newsletter to $80 Million in Revenue |newspaper=Mashable |date=September 24, 2013 }} He is Jewish.{{Cite tweet |author= |author-link= |user=BenjLerer|number= 261536520417202176|date= |title=that's why I'm Jewish|script-title= |trans-title= |language= |retweet= |location= |access-date= |link=https://x.com/benjlerer/status/261536520417202176?s=46&t=Z5FmMnVwf50niJSX5CEFDA |url-status= |archive-url= |archive-date= |quote= |ref=}}
Ken Lerer has two children. His son, Benjamin, started Thrillist, an online men's lifestyle website; Benjamin is also a managing director at Lerer Hippeau.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}} His daughter, Izzie, is founder and CEO of The Dodo, a digital media company for people who care about animals.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}} Kenneth Lerer is one of the minority owners of the New York Mets, holding a 4% stake in the baseball team.{{cite news |first=Brian |last=Costa |url=https://blogs.wsj.com/metropolis/2012/03/20/meet-the-mets-minority-owners-bob-pittman-kenneth-lerer/ |title=Metropolis: Meet the Mets (Minority Owners): Bob Pittman, Kenneth Lerer |type=blog |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal |date=March 20, 2012 }}
Politics
In 2013, Lerer launched StoptheNRA.com to advocate for the continuation of the assault weapons ban as a federal law. He later donated the website to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.{{cite news |first=Marc |last=Tracy |url=https://newrepublic.com/article/113396/stop-nra-kenneth-lerer-wants-gun-control-go-viral |title=Can Gun Control Go Viral? |newspaper=The New Republic |date=June 6, 2013 }}
References
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Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:Businesspeople from New York City
Category:Columbia University faculty
Category:New York University faculty
Category:University of Pennsylvania faculty
Category:21st-century American businesspeople